chapter 18 | strawberries and kisses

When Sunggyu gets home, Dongwoo nearly tackles him to the floor, demanding Sunggyu to tell him every detail.

            “Are you dating him now? How did it happen? Who confessed first? Tell me everything!”

            Sunggyu makes a noise somewhere between a choke and a cough. Min Ji makes her way downstairs and watches the scene with slight amusement. “His face is going blue,” she observes.

            Dongwoo gasps and hurries off of his elder brother. Sunggyu coughs and takes a deep breath in, somehow managing to breathe properly again. “What was that for?”

            “I got excited! You must tell us everything!”

            “I—” Sunggyu abruptly shuts his mouth as the scene in Woohyun’s garden replays over and over in his head. He really couldn’t stop thinking about it on the way home and it wasn’t failing to make his heart flutter like it never has before.

            “Oh my god! Your ears are red! Something definitely happened!” Min Ji taps Sunggyu’s ear with a sly smile, causing Sunggyu to blush even more than he already is.

            “S-shut up!” Sunggyu proceeds to have a mental breakdown – this whole day has just been too much for him. First he punched Myungsoo and is then punched by Dongwoo, then he was confessed to by one of his very good friends in a bathroom stall, and then he confessed to the very person he’d been head over heels for since forever and it turns out that he likes Sungyu back.

            “Come on! Spit it out, already!” Dongwoo pesters shaking Sunggyu’s shoulders.

            “I just want to shower and go to bed. I’ve been through a lot,” Sunggyu looks like he’s about to burst into tears and Min Ji feels her resolve wavering – she’s always had a soft spot for Sunggyu.

            Dongwoo, on the other hand, isn’t as weak. “Oh no, you need to tell us first.”

            Sunggyu sighs. He knows with Dongwoo here he’d never be able to bypass. So Sunggyu starts from the bathroom scene. Dongwoo doesn’t seem too surprised at this; he’d always suspected that Yongguk had a thing for Sunggyu. He was a little surprised that Yongguk was so willing to let Sunggyu go but he knew that Yongguk is a good guy and too nice for his own good and he figures it probably took a lot of thought.

            Sunggyu gets to the part when Woohyun is confessing and Min Ji and Dongwoo are squealing like little girls with each other because oh my god it’s so cute, oh my god it’s so sweet. When Sunggyu finishes his story, Dongwoo is on the floor in a ball crying because Sunggyu’s love-life is so perfect and Min Ji is hugging Sunggyu tightly and giving him relationship advice.

            “This is why I didn’t want to tell you!”

            “Oh, cry me a river!”

--

            The next day at school is… eventful. Sunggyu is, once again, the talk of the school. Some people are just in pure shock, others are shaking their heads because he just broke up with Myungsoo, and others aren’t that surprised or they just don’t care.

            Sunggyu is stared at nonetheless as he walks down the hall. It’s lunch period and he’s heading to the cafeteria but he isn’t really sure he wants to go in there right now. He doesn’t know if he’s ready to face Yongguk, let alone anyone else. He’s already faced the wrath of Dongwoo’s pestering and Hoya’s relentless questioning. He stands frozen at the doors to the cafeteria for a moment, deciding between whether he should go in or just straight to the music room. A moment later, he sighs and opens the door, walking in.

            He quickly hurries to his table which thankfully isn’t far away. He slides into the seat next to Hoya. “Shouldn’t you be with Woohyun? Don’t couples usually eat together?” Hoya asks when Sunggyu takes out a carton of strawberry milk.

            “I don’t know where he is and besides, he might want to just eat with his friends.”

            Hoya shakes his head and wraps his arm around Sunggyu’s shoulder. “He’ll want to eat with you; just wait until he gets here.”

            As if on cue, Sunggyu can hear his name being called. “Sunggyu!”

            Sunggyu spins around and his heart practically jumps out of his chest when he sees Woohyun approaching with that one thousand watt smile. “W-Woohyun.”

            “Let’s go eat lunch together!”

            “U-uh—” he feels Hoya nudge him and he comes to a standing. “Go for it,” Hoya mutters behind him, pushing him forward to kick-start his movement.

            “Let’s go outside for lunch, yeah? It’s a beautiful day; we shouldn’t let it go to waste!”

            Sunggyu nods and gasps when he feels Woohyun take his hand and lace his fingers with Sunggyu’s. He takes notice how nice Woohyun’s hand feels in his own and how beautifully they seem to fit together.

            Woohyun leads him outside and onto a patch of grass that is a ways away from others. They sit next to each other, shoulders pressed up together, and thighs brushing on another’s. Sunggyu, who’s not usually an outside person, smiles into the wind when he feels the pleasant feeling of the sun on his face. Woohyun looks at him and his heart starts racing; Sunggyu’s beautiful and he doesn’t understand how Sunggyu can’t see that.

            “This is the perfect weather,” Sunggyu says, more to himself than anything. Woohyun smiles and takes a deep breath, his eyes still fixed on Sunggyu. He watches as Sunggyu finishes the carton of strawberry milk and pulls out a container of strawberries from his bag.

            “Fan of strawberries?”

            Sunggyu blushes and Woohyun chuckles, pinching his cheek. “Yeah, I really like strawberries.”

            “No wonder you always smell like strawberries.”

            Sunggyu looks at Woohyun and blinks. He’s surprised that Woohyun even took the time to notice how he smells but maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising because it’s human nature to smell things that are around us. “You’re so cute, you know that, right?” Woohyun brushes a strand of stray hair away from Sunggyu’s forehead, causing the other to blush furiously.

            “C-cute? I’m not cute!”

            “Adorable! It should be illegal for someone to be as adorable as you!”

            “S-shut up! I am very manly, I’ll have you know,” Sunggyu crosses his arms over his chest and pouts.

            Woohyun feels his heart melt. “You’re just like a hamster!”

            “Hamsters aren’t manly!”

            “Exactly!” Woohyun proceeds to tickling Sunggyu, and as hard as Sunggyu tries to fight it, he can’ help it. His mom always said he was the most ticklish person alive. Sunggyu giggles and struggles to get out of Woohyun’s grasp, but Woohyun is tickling his sides and his neck and he can’t get away. Woohyun’s laughing too because Sunggyu is so freaking adorable when he’s laughing like this and he feels ecstatic because he’s the one making Sunggyu laugh like this.

            Somehow they end up in a compromising position; Woohyun is straddling Sunggyu, Woohyun’s hands are on his sides, and their faces are very close. Sunggyu can feel Woohyun’s breath on his lips and he takes in his smell. Sunggyu smiles and Woohyun shifts so that his forearms are on either side of Sunggyu’s head. He leans down and slowly presses his mouth to Sunggyu’s in a sweet and innocent kiss.

            When they pull apart, Woohyun hovers over Sunggyu’s mouth. Sunggy’s lips brush his as he speaks, “We’re in public.”

            Woohyun glances around and sees that no one is paying any attention to them. Most of them are with their girlfriends and boyfriends or just friends and are too engulfed in their own conversations and actions to care about anyone else. “No one is paying attention to us. It’s fine,” Woohyun assures him.

            Sunggyu’s still uneasy about it because he’s never done PDA, or any sort of displays of affection with anyone that wasn’t his best friend or his family. He’d never been in a relationship before and he’s not really sure how to do it. But Woohyun makes him comfortable, and though it’s surprising, he’s not as nervous as he thought he would be. It’s probably because he’s with Woohyun and Woohyun always seems to make everything better.

            Woohyun kisses him again, this time more languidly and for longer, and when he pulls away to place a kiss on Sunggyu’s nose, Sunggyu remembers something. “I want to see Hye Mi again.”

            “Then let’s go on a date Saturday. I’ll cook dinner that night for me, you, and Hye Mi.”

            “That sounds very nice,” Sunggyu pulls out a breathtaking smile and Woohyun decides that this is when Sunggyu looks the most beautiful. 

Not proofread (it never is lol). Sue me.

LEAVE ROOM FOR JESUS, WOOGYU, LEAVE ROOM FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT.

My friend literally went up to a couple who was kissing and yelled "Leave room for Jesus!" into their faces.

I just kind of ran away after that. The couple looked really angry.

GUISE. I HAVE A HINT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER. 

Two new characters shall be introduced. You may guess who they will be.